Johannes Brahms String Quartet in B-flat major, No. 3, Op. 67
John Halle Spheres (2001, revised 2007)
Arnold Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4

Friction Quartet, whose performances have been called “terribly beautiful” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “stunningly passionate” (Calgary Herald) and “chillingly effective” (San Francisco Examiner), exists to expand the string quartet repertoire and audience for adventurous contemporary music through commissioning composers and performing in underserved schools and communities. Joshua Kosman (San Francisco Chronicle) declared that Friction Quartet is “an artist who should be discovered” and described their performance as “high-octane music making … a fine blend of rhythmic ferocity and tonal flair.” Friction is the second place winner of the 2016 Schoenfeld International String Competition Chamber Division in Harbin, China. They recently gave their Carnegie Hall debut as part of the Kronos Quartet Workshop. They also opened for Kronos Quartet at Z Space as part of Kronos’s “Under 30″ series. Last summer, they were Quartet in Residence at the New Music for Strings Festival in Aarhus, Denmark. Friction will return to the Shouse Institute at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival this June. Since forming in 2011, Friction has given 70 world premiere performances and commissioned 32 works for string quartet. Friction received a Chamber Music America grant to commission a piano quintet from Andy Akiho which they debuted in November 2016 with Jenny Q Chai. They have also been awarded grants from San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music and Zellerbach Family Foundation.

This year, Old First Concerts hosts the Spotlight Concert 4 with two amazing choirs: The Chamber Singers of the Fairfield County Children’s Choir (Orange, Connecticut) and the St. Stephen’s College Choir (Hong Kong).  This is a FREE concert. For more information about the Golden Gate International Children’s and Youth Choral Festival, please visit their website.

Victor Romasevich & Michael Jones, violins; Stephen Levintow, viola; Paul Rhodes, cello

with special guests Sergey Rakitchenkov; Olga Ortenberg-Rakitchenkov, harp

Evgeny Golubev Quintet for Harp and String Quartet in C minor, Op. 39
Anton Bruckner Quintet for 2 violins, 2 violas, and cello in F major

In 1997, two veteran freelancers, violinist Michael Jones and Juilliard-trained violist Steve Levintow, recruited BBC Orchestra violinist Andrew Davies and ‘cellist Paul Hale of the Oakland Symphony to found the Jupiter Quartet which later became the Jupiter Chamber Players. The quartet had the good fortune to connect with Marvin Sanders, director of Live Oak Concerts at the Berkeley Art Center, just as the Center’s previous ensemble-in-residence, the Cypress Quartet, left to launch their international career. The Art Center remained the Quartet’s “home” venue for 10 years. Paul Rhodes replaced Hale in 2000, bringing his years of experience in numerous orchestras and as soloist with the Carmel Bach Festival. Two years later, Davies left to pursue other projects, and San Francisco Symphony member Victor Romasevich took over as first violinist. Romasevich brought deep fascination with Russian chamber music, including masterworks by such composers as Sergei Taneyev, Georgy Catoire, and Iosif Andriasov (with whom Romasevich studied violin and viola)—all links in a tradition going back to Tchaikovsky through Moscow Conservatory. The Jupiter Chamber Players take pleasure in introducing wider audiences to the work of these composers, while continuing to present more familiar Russian and European repertoire.

Franz Schubert Sonata in A Major, D. 664
Franz Schubert / Franz Liszt Du bist die Ruh & Auf dem Wasser zu singen
Franz Liszt excerpts from Années de pèlerinage, Première année: Suisse & Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Frédéric Chopin Nocturne, Op. 62 No. 1 in B major; Waltz, Op. 34 No. 1 in A-flat major; Ballade No. 1, Op. 23 in G minor; Ballade No. 2, Op. 38 in F major; Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise, Op. 22 in E-flat major

Pre-concert birthday party at 3 pm with cake provided by the Polish Arts & Culture Foundation.

Every year, the San Francisco Chapter of the Chopin Foundation presents a concert celebrating the life and music of Chopin featuring world class pianists. Old First Concerts is honored to host this annual event. Hailed as an “irresistibly fluid” and “illuminating” pianist by The New York Times and the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Eric Zuber has established himself as one of the leaders of a new generation of American pianism. Mr. Zuber rose to international acclaim in 2007 after winning the Gold Medal in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, with many more prizes following shortly thereafter. Mr. Zuber has made solo appearances at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Severance Hall and for the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City. After making his orchestral debut at the age of twelve with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, he has gone on to perform with many of the major orchestras in the United States and abroad including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Minnesota Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the Phoenix Symphony, the Korean Symphony, the Sydney Symphony, and Ireland’s RTE National Symphony Orchestra among many others. He has also collaborated with many internationally acclaimed artists including Lewis Kaplan, Amir Eldan, Charlie Neidich, Joseph Silverstein, Gerard Schwartz, Johannes Moser, and Amanda Roocroft among others. Eric holds degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (B.M., A.D.), the Curtis Institute of Music (Diploma), and the Juilliard School (M.M). His major teachers have been Boris Slutsky, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, and Robert McDonald. He is currently pursuing his doctoral degree at Peabody.